Stemming the Tide
5
0000 July 4th 1944.
Diplomatic Offices. Tokyo, Japan.
The Siamese Ambassador had requested another audience with Mamoru to offer more metal to Japan. Who was Mamoru to deny such friendly actions. His day had begun well and it soon improved.
General Nishio had managed to arrive at the Guangxi stockpile moments before Nationalist forces tried to move it to Chongqing. He had not managed to capture everything, but more than 4000 tons of energy and other resources flooded Japan's own stockpiles as a result of his quick advance. More energy was still required although Mamoru now had some breathing space before he was forced to make another bad deal for his Country.
Mamoru passed the news on to his opposite number in the Industry Offices, Fujiwara Ginjiro. Ginjiro was in the process of ordering a small amount of additional Destroyer flotillas when he was made aware of the sudden growth in Japan's stockpiles. A larger number of escort type ships would be needed by the Imperial Japanese Navy, but these would have to wait for newer models to be researched and for current drains on production to fall.
0200 July 4th 1944.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Yamashiro, North Mariana Trench.
Japan's invasion fleet had arrived in the North Mariana Trench without encountering any hostile forces. This changed as they began their approach to Saipan.
Admiral Syfret had been warned of Yamamoto's arrival and was attempting to move his Transport fleet to safer waters when he ran head first into several Battleships.
The Admiral ordered his fleet back to Saipan but lost two of his ships in the process. The Battleships IJN Yamato and IJN Hyuga would sink one transport each.
Lt. General Hanaya began the invasion of Saipan at 0800 hours on July 4th and would be completely vunerable to any hostile fleet for more than two days. Yamamoto would do all that he could to prevent such a fleet from arriving.
At 2100 hours an American fleet did arrive in the North Mariana Trench. Japanese Battleships greeted its arrival and any troops that may have been embarked on the transport ships never made it to Saipan.
The Battleship IJN Nagato would sink one transport ship and IJN Yamato the other as well as the 36th Destroyer Division.
The search for the USS Ranger was still being conducted by the Imperial Japanese Airforce and it was sighted just as Yamamoto's Battleships opened fire on the helpless transport ships.
The last known sighting of Admiral Leahy's fleet had it heading north towards Marcus Island. This fleet had altered course east after the USS Ranger suffered severe damage, in an attempt to safely escort the Carrier to a friendly base for repairs. Lt. General Onishi made sure that it would not reach such safety.
0200 July 5th 1944.
North China Army Headquarters. Zhuzhou, China.
Several new reports had arrived at Higashikuni's headquarters in the early morning. A mix of bad news and good news was contained within these reports.
The bad news was the arrival of British forces in Kalewa. Whilst this was some cause for concern, it had taken the British two weeks to advance into the province and Higashikuni had time before any major Japanese force would be required to halt British progress. The territory in Burma was not condusive to rapid advance and there was nothing worth defending in most of the Country.
The good news was the arrival of the Kwantung Army in Changsha. These forces were ordered to increase their supplies so that they could recover from their redeployment as quickly as possible before conducting offensive operations.
At 2300 hours General Nishio led an attack in southern China in support of the armour commanded by Lt. General Hoshinato. The attack was against two Chinese militia divisions defending the mountains of Liuzhou. Added support came from dive bombers and the battle was over shortly after 1200 hours on July 6th.